What is beautiful? This word seems to be slowly consuming us. Everybody wants to be beautiful. The make-up and fashion industries are soaring. We spend precious time and money adorning ourselves just to be beautiful. Yet, somehow, millions of us do not still believe we deserve to be described with this word. I googled "beautiful?" and it came up with about 1,760,000,000 results. One word. So many meanings. I really don't want to add any more meanings to this word, so I'll go straight to the point.
Why is there an obsession with this word? Its a pity. It really is. Something so temporary. Why does something that ends the moment we die control our minds so much? As a little girl, I remember praying "Dear God, please just make my face beautiful and I'll be happy." I remember wishing people saw me and went "wow, Dara is beautiful." From as young as 6 years old, I knew being beautiful was a great thing. How? I'm not quite sure. Last night, as I tossed and turned in my bed unable to sleep, I couldn't help but say that prayer again. However, I said my "heart" instead of my face (afterall, I'd been praying about my face for so long, if God was going to answer that prayer, he'd have answered it a long time ago) so the prayer went thus "Dear God, please just give me a beautiful heart and I'll be happy." Yet after saying that prayer and with my 19th birthday barely 2 months away, I still felt like I didn't really know what a beautiful heart is. I mean, we all know what a beautiful face looks like. The media never fails to educate us on that but I can't help thinking what will happen if, the media fed us with what beautiful hearts look like, the way what beautiful faces look like, is constantly being shoved down our throats. Will we be just as obsessed with the word as we all seem now?
The more I pondered on this topic, the more restless I became. On my quest to found out more about this word, I turned to my buddy, youtube. Before I searched anything, I just scrolled down my home page looking for anything with the word beautiful, and right at the bottom of the page, was a Nollywood movie called "beautiful soul." Skeptical but relieved, I checked how long the movie was (part 1 and 2) and checked my time. It was 2:15am and both parts came to about 2 hours, 20 minutes or so. I let out a sigh and began watching.
At about half past four am, it ended. My mind in a completely different place from where it was when I began. I won't share the details because I honestly don't have the strength to tell the story but I can say that it was watching that movie that inspired this post. Yes, I was thinking about the word but I wasn't sure what it really meant and I didn't want to put up anything too cliche so I didn't think this post was going to happen. However, with a completely new perspective on this word, I can quite confidently define beautiful as selflessness. A truly beautiful person is a truly selfless person. Selfless acts are beautiful. Just imagine if we were 'programmed' to view our acts of pure undiluted love as beautiful instead of our faces or/and bodies. Maybe, just maybe, there'll be a few more selfless people in this world.
I've been fortunate to have quite a number of selfless people around me and believe you me, there's something about them I couldn't really describe before now. They glow far more beautifully than mac has ever made anyone glow. There really is nothing more beautiful than watching them give themselves and their resources away. Selflessly. So in a world where beauty products come out everyday either for "maintaining your beautiful youth" or "bringing out the beauty goddess in you" why not look for the beauty that never ever fades. Best part? Its free and it carries on long after we die! Try selflessness and you won't be disappointed. When your beautiful face and body are long gone, your selfless acts linger on.
Have a wonderful day beautiful people!
With all my love,
Dárà Rhodes.
Why is there an obsession with this word? Its a pity. It really is. Something so temporary. Why does something that ends the moment we die control our minds so much? As a little girl, I remember praying "Dear God, please just make my face beautiful and I'll be happy." I remember wishing people saw me and went "wow, Dara is beautiful." From as young as 6 years old, I knew being beautiful was a great thing. How? I'm not quite sure. Last night, as I tossed and turned in my bed unable to sleep, I couldn't help but say that prayer again. However, I said my "heart" instead of my face (afterall, I'd been praying about my face for so long, if God was going to answer that prayer, he'd have answered it a long time ago) so the prayer went thus "Dear God, please just give me a beautiful heart and I'll be happy." Yet after saying that prayer and with my 19th birthday barely 2 months away, I still felt like I didn't really know what a beautiful heart is. I mean, we all know what a beautiful face looks like. The media never fails to educate us on that but I can't help thinking what will happen if, the media fed us with what beautiful hearts look like, the way what beautiful faces look like, is constantly being shoved down our throats. Will we be just as obsessed with the word as we all seem now?
The more I pondered on this topic, the more restless I became. On my quest to found out more about this word, I turned to my buddy, youtube. Before I searched anything, I just scrolled down my home page looking for anything with the word beautiful, and right at the bottom of the page, was a Nollywood movie called "beautiful soul." Skeptical but relieved, I checked how long the movie was (part 1 and 2) and checked my time. It was 2:15am and both parts came to about 2 hours, 20 minutes or so. I let out a sigh and began watching.
At about half past four am, it ended. My mind in a completely different place from where it was when I began. I won't share the details because I honestly don't have the strength to tell the story but I can say that it was watching that movie that inspired this post. Yes, I was thinking about the word but I wasn't sure what it really meant and I didn't want to put up anything too cliche so I didn't think this post was going to happen. However, with a completely new perspective on this word, I can quite confidently define beautiful as selflessness. A truly beautiful person is a truly selfless person. Selfless acts are beautiful. Just imagine if we were 'programmed' to view our acts of pure undiluted love as beautiful instead of our faces or/and bodies. Maybe, just maybe, there'll be a few more selfless people in this world.
I've been fortunate to have quite a number of selfless people around me and believe you me, there's something about them I couldn't really describe before now. They glow far more beautifully than mac has ever made anyone glow. There really is nothing more beautiful than watching them give themselves and their resources away. Selflessly. So in a world where beauty products come out everyday either for "maintaining your beautiful youth" or "bringing out the beauty goddess in you" why not look for the beauty that never ever fades. Best part? Its free and it carries on long after we die! Try selflessness and you won't be disappointed. When your beautiful face and body are long gone, your selfless acts linger on.
Have a wonderful day beautiful people!
With all my love,
Dárà Rhodes.
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